Shadow Magic Read Free Page B

couldn’t he have been rescued by one of the Solars? Now
that
was a great Great House. Ancient enemies to the Shadows, their knights were the noblest of all men. The ruler, Duke Solar, had twelve daughters and each was the most beautiful woman in all of the world. That didn’t make a lot of sense, but Merrick, who said he’d met them, swore it was true.
    Thorn could never become a knight, but he’d make a good squire. He’d look after the horses, clean the armor, and tend the weapons. He’d cheer his knight at jousts and tournaments, and he’d serve at feasts and see these beautiful daughters for himself.
    That would be a good life.
    But what was he doing instead? Heading off to a land of tombs and graveyards, where he’d probably be sent to work in the kitchens, chopping up corpses for the oven.
    “What’s Lord Shadow like?” asked Thorn. Merrick hadn’t said much about Gehenna’s ruler.
    “Dead.” Tyburn’s eyes narrowed. “He was killed five months ago. Gehenna is ruled by his daughter now. Lilith Shadow.”
    “Lilith? What sort of name is that?”
    “It means
Mother of Monsters
.”
    Thorn gulped. He could picture her. A hideous troll with a long warty nose, green skin, and iron teeth. Probably ate children for supper.
    Tyburn dropped a few pennies onto the table. “Let’s get going.”
    Into Raven’s Wood. Sounded big.
    Thorn smiled. He liked woods, and the bigger the better.
    Tyburn was half-right. Stour wasn’t just
near
Herne’s Forest; it was connected to it, a part of the world’s oldest, largest forest.
    Almost from the day he was born, Thorn had accompanied his dad into the woods, and he had learned more than just how to cut down trees.
Much
more.
    Castle Gloom his new home? Never.
    Stour was home. And he’d been gone long enough.
    It’s time I went back, and no executioner’s gonna stop me.

I ’ll wait till he’s asleep. Real good and snoring.
    With any luck he’d get a half day’s head start before Tyburn even knew he was gone.
    They’d left Cliff Road, turning away from the sea and into the trees. By lunchtime the scent of brine was gone, and now the air was thick with pine and the smell of damp earth and rotten bark. They followed a rivulet that twisted and frothed between mossy rocks and fallen branches. The dense canopy cast their route into twilight, and that suited Thorn fine. With the ferns and the uneven ground, you could disappear within ten yards.
    Tyburn stopped his horse and looked around him. “You hungry?”
    Thorn nodded.
    Two months of living on slop not fit for pigs had left Thorn with a gnawing, constant hunger. Sometimes he wondered if he’d ever feel full again.
    Tyburn squinted. “My eyes aren’t so good in this light. Tell me what you see.”
    Thorn jumped off his donkey, thankful to stretch his legs and shake the ache out of his backside. He searched the ground and picked up some dark rabbit droppings. Fresh. “It’s a trail. There must be a warren nearby.” He looked along the shallow trench through the tall grass. “They must take this path down to the stream to drink.”
    “You know how to set a trap?”
    “No, Master,” lied Thorn.
    Tyburn slid off his own saddle and inspected the reeds along the bank. He plucked out a handful. “Strange, a woodcutter’s son who knows so much about the habits of rabbits but not how to catch them.”
    Me and my big mouth. He did that on purpose.
    Speaking of traps, Tyburn had laid one for him, and he’d run straight into it.
    Thorn tried to cover up his mistake. “We should have bought the fish from that fisherman we passed a while back.”
    “I’ve spent a month on the Sword Coast. I’m tired of fish. I want rabbit.”
    Tyburn twisted the reeds into a loop, using grass stalks for string. He tied one end to the top of a flimsy branch, then he bent it down, wedging it into place with a simple wooden peg. Tyburn sprinkled grass around the loop so it couldn’t be seen. The whole thing took a few minutes.